1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a workflow management server and method that can cause, for example, a server to manage a workflow and execute bookbinding printing.
2. Description of the Related Art
The standard of a workflow is defined by, for example, WfMC (Workflow Management Coalition). A workflow indicates automation of an overall business process or a part thereof. Using a workflow, a document, information, or task is taken over from one person in charge to another in accordance with a procedure rule. A workflow is executed by software that runs on one or a plurality of workflow engines. A workflow management system defines, generates, and processes a workflow. The workflow management system interprets definition data that defines a workflow and a processing step, interacts with the person in charge of the workflow, and activates an application program as needed.
A workflow is applied to various kinds of software and also used in, for example, a bookbinding print-on-demand (POD) system. In a mechanism such as a POD workflow, a workflow management system formed from a personal computer (PC) manages a workflow so that one operator executes, for example, bookbinding printing. A system has been proposed recently, in which a device such as a printer acquires and displays a job catalog from an order manager and receives job selection and an execution instruction (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-208632). This provides a mechanism which causes a server to manage a workflow and makes an operator who is not busy execute only executable steps using an unoccupied device.
In the workflow management system according to the prior art, when an error has occurred in a device to execute a processing step, the display unit of the device displays a message to notify the operator of the error. The person in charge of the job executes an operation to remove the error. The workflow is aborted until the error is removed.
In some cases, however, even when the processing step executed by the device with the error is incomplete, the processing step of the next stage can be executed. Assume that the device is a print device which is executing a processing step of printing a plurality of copies of a printed product, and the processing step of the next stage is bookbinding of each copy. In this case, even when an error such as paper out, toner out, or breakdown occurs in the print device halfway during printing, already printed copies can be transferred to the next bookbinding processing step because the printing is done for each copy.
However, the person in charge of executing the processing step using the device cannot always make such a determination. In particular, an inexperienced operator executes an operation complying with contents displayed in case of an error. It is therefore difficult for him/her to apply a technique of, for example, advancing a processed portion to the next step. For this reason, the conventional workflow management system cannot execute the succeeding processing step before the aborted processing step. This may retard the workflow.